Japanese Maples

The Japanese maple collection featured in the Woodland Garden is one of the Arboretum's oldest. More than 70 cultivars are displayed throughout the Woodland Garden and there are 90 cultivars in all which is the largest public collection of Japanese maples in the United States. In 1940 a local Japanese nursery donated 80 different cultivars to the Arboretum and a second large donation came from an Indiana nursery in 1966.

Japanese maples are known for fall color and unique form, as they range from dwarf shrubs to trees of 40 feet with a weeping appearance. They also have a highly variable leaf morphology, from nearly rounded to deeply dissected leaves, which can be red, green or variegated.

The dissectum or laceleaf varieties are frequently planted in the home garden. WPA has several old specimens of laceleaf maples that have been pruned and trained into wonderful shapes with plenty of twisting character. Green laceleaf varieties turn a golden yellow in the fall and ones that are red during the summer, display an intensification of their normal color in autumn.


Here is the Complete List of Japanese Maples

The following is a sampling of just a few of the many beautiful Japanese maples at the Washington Park Arboretum.